Most-read USA TODAY Opinion columns of 2018

Of the hundreds of columns USA TODAY Opinion published during 2018, some struck more of a chord than others. Below are a dozen of our most-read op-eds from the past year, including several you might have missed amid the daily fire hose of news developments. This year we put an emphasis on columns involving first-person experience, and the list concludes with one that was intensely personal. As always, thank you for reading, and we wish you a happy and healthy new year.

"Yes, there are people who have chemical imbalances who should be supported and treated with medicine. But most Americans are depressed, anxious or suicidal because something is wrong with our culture, not because something is wrong with them. Changing our culture is critical. Being honest with others about our own personal struggles and dark nights of the soul is the first step. People on the edge need to hear stories that assure them there is a way through the all-consuming pain to a meaningful life. I’ve told mine, now go tell yours."

"About 10,000 children a year suffer the horrors of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States. Each victim on average is forced to have sex more than five times a day. Yet the buyers who fuel the child sex trade are seldom held accountable. Most just blend back into their families, jobs and neighborhoods. Until the next time."

"The federal budget is already in very bad shape ... and getting worse. ... The budget policymakers on Capitol Hill and in the Trump White House obviously aren’t focusing on much beyond 2018 and 2020. But they should at least be willing to admit there’s a problem that will continue long after the votes have been counted in those elections."

"As someone who spent years defending Democrats from 'socialista' charges, I understand why people roll their eyes when Cuba and Venezuela are mentioned alongside democratic socialism, but to reject the comparison simply because we don’t like those countries' outcomes misses the point of why they turned out the way they did. I’m under no illusion that increased access to health care and education will turn us into the Venezuelan capital Caracas, but it’s foolish to believe that democratic socialists — who promise to end capitalism — would be satisfied with Medicare for all, if given the reins of power."

"When the opportunity presented itself to work as a White House correspondent, I was elated. Unfortunately, during my time in the briefing room, I witnessed the withering of a press corps that I once aspired to join. Of course, there are those whom I admire greatly, who cover the White House with fairness and without bias, and a handful I call friends. But for a sizable minority, the White House briefing room was about theater and making great television, not about journalism. It was a room to elbow one's peers and show off one's ability to ask 'gotcha' questions."

"Donald Trump is not mentally ill, and I doubt that he is even 'living in his own reality,' as so many have claimed. He is simply fairly unique in a way that is hard for the public to understand. In a nutshell, Trump is highly vulnerable to what can reasonably be called 'sympathetic audience control.' ... When Trump is in the presence of someone he dislikes or distrusts, he attacks and will continue to lash out for a while, but not necessarily forever. When someone he perceives as a threat becomes deferential (Rocket Man, for example), Trump not only stops attacking, he also becomes highly vulnerable to influence."

"I’m no Trump supporter, but I’ve been horrified and repulsed by the political and cultural left’s hatred, demonization and mistreatment of President Trump, his family, his administration officials and his voters, which is even worse (if that’s possible) than what the right did to President Barack Obama."

"I took pride in belonging to the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Now we have a Republican Party that stands for cruelty, hatred, bullying, proud stupidity, trade barriers, science denial, massive deficits and strangling debt. ... Trump is a danger to our nation and a disgrace to our party. But he can’t accomplish this perversion of America alone. The Mitch McConnells and Paul Ryans are equally culpable. They are fellow travelers with disaster. The next generations will pay for their folly."

"With Brett Kavanaugh as the newest associate justice of the Supreme Court, things are going to be different. But how different? ... There will be less change than you expect. Most Supreme Court decisions are boring, technical and decided by easy majorities. That will still be true with Kavanaugh on the bench. But in the big cases, Anthony Kennedy, who served as a swing vote and often joined the left, will now be replaced by Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh is not as hard right as many of his critics (and some of his boosters) fear or hope."

"Defenders of the president have, despite the obvious progress of the Mueller investigation — more than 30 indictments or guilty pleas, including Trump’s campaign chairman, personal lawyer, national security adviser, deputy campaign manager and foreign policy adviser — consistently argued that 'no collusion' has been proven. While it is true that the charges made public have not alleged conspiracy (there is no crime of 'collusion') it should be clear to all but the most obtuse by now that the endgame is drawing near. Mueller is laying out the predicate for a wide-ranging conspiracy case that will likely ensnare the president’s family and, quite likely, Trump himself."

Mastio: "What really struck me is one thing that stayed the same from the sordid mess of the Clinton years to the sordid mess that is our now: how little actual sex there is in the sex scandals. Stormy and the Donald had sex once. Paula Jones was merely propositioned for sex, but her lawsuit revealed another relationship in which there wasn't sex sex, only oral sex. It was lies about the oral sex that led to Clinton's impeachment."

Lawrence: "Trump has met his match. Here I’ve got to hand it to Stormy. She doesn’t have a top-rated TV show and she’s not the leader of the free world. But now she is a celebrity, and count on her to know what to do with that. When the legal storm rains down on Trump, her case could stick. And even if it doesn’t, she could end up being in the small club of people who force Trump to reckon with the way he’s lived his life."

"As a parent, your natural inclination is to fix your children’s problems or, better yet, teach them how to fix their problems themselves. And when the kids are little, you mostly can. But as they grow older, the problems get bigger and more complicated. There’s no 'magic conversation' that can keep adult children out of harm’s way or turn their lives around. There’s no bright, clear line between supportive and enabling. I’m far from an authority on addiction. But I know the emotional and financial toll it can take on a family. Having lived through the nightmare and having talked to some of the leading experts in the field, I’ve learned a few things and formed a few opinions that might be helpful to others struggling to cope with this insidious, infuriating affliction."